Tough budget cuts: Doing less with less

Tough economic times for city and state governments translate into budget cuts unforeseen just a few years ago. Beyond laying off teachers, firefighters, and other city workers, some communities are going to extremes. NBC’s Kerry Sanders has more.

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This content comes from a Full-Text Transcript of the program.

BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor:Tough economic times for city and state governments are ushering in budget cuts in places no one would have expected just a few years back. Beyond laying off teachers, firefighters, and other city workers, some communities really are going to extremes. Our report tonight from
NBC
's
Kerry Sanders
.

KERRY SANDERS reporting:It's
a sign of the times
, doing more with less, and in some cases doing less with less. In
Wakonda
and
Irene
,
South Dakota
, school is now four days a week, a cost-cutting move to save $50,000. Mr. LARRY JOHNKE (Irene-Wakonda,
South Dakota
School District Superintendent): We looked into the schools that were -- been doing four day weeks. We don't feel it's going to have an effect on the students' achievement at all.

SANDERS:In tiny
Alto
,
Texas
, population
1200
, the city furloughed its five police officers and now relies on the county's 25 sheriff deputies who already patrol 1,000 square miles.

Mr. FREDERICK SHAW (Alto, Texas Resident):I feel like the town is vulnerable because we have no law enforcement.

Unidentified Police Officer:I'm going to miss him.

SANDERS:In
San Diego
the city saved a quarter million
dollars
cutting its mounted patrol and auctioning the horses. In
Pinellas County
,
Florida
, commissioners voted this month to stop adding fluoride to the water supply. The immediate savings, $200,000. But the mother of 14-year-old
Jenny Brown
worries about no fluoride in the water.

Ms. RHONDA BROWN (Pinellas County Florida Resident):If they're going to take the fluoride out of the water, are they going to be sure that they have any dental plans or anything to help them with going to the dentist?

SANDERS:Across
America
local elected officials are recognizing that
old Washington
refrain, a million
dollars
here, a million
dollars
there, before you know it, we're talking real money. In
Newark
,
New Jersey
, city workers complained cuts almost reached absurd levels.
City hall
proposed to stop providing toilet paper in the restrooms. Employees would have to bring their own, but that idea was flushed.
Kerry Sanders
, NBC News,
Pinellas County
Florida.